My main use cases for Cisco Duo involve working for a public school district, specifically in my administration building, where I manage the C-suite users, finance, HR, and my front office secretaries at my sites.
Director, Technology at a educational organization with 201-500 employees
Ensures secure access for administrative tasks while managing cybersecurity
Pros and Cons
- "What I most appreciate about Cisco Duo is the ease of use."
- "What I most appreciate about Cisco Duo is the ease of use."
- "There is always room for improvement."
- "It took me a while to figure it out. I went to every user and forced them to set it up. I might have done it the long way."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Using Cisco Duo benefits my organization by making it harder for potential threats to access our systems, especially since we work in public education and are a huge target right now.
What is most valuable?
What I most appreciate about Cisco Duo is the ease of use.
The strong security authentication system has been easy while logging in. I just use the app.
The benefit of having a complete passwordless environment in our organization is that it's gotten people away from using the sticky note under their keyboard - which is a huge problem. It's also helped stop the sharing of passwords. You'll have somebody that's out one day and somebody will just sit down at their computer and use that person's password. We can now stop a lot of that stuff.
What needs improvement?
There is always room for improvement.
Buyer's Guide
Cisco Duo
January 2026
Learn what your peers think about Cisco Duo. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Cisco Duo for about two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have experienced no issues regarding the stability and reliability of Cisco Duo.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have not scaled Cisco Duo yet. That said, my understanding is it will not be an issue when the time comes.
How are customer service and support?
I would assess the customer service and technical support of Cisco Duo as a seven out of ten, as I do not use it frequently. I did find a recent communication webcast engaging.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I did not consider any other solutions before selecting Cisco Duo, as I inherited it when I got hired after someone else had begun the implementation phase.
How was the initial setup?
It took me a while to figure it out. I went to every user snad forced them to set it up. I might have done it the long way.
What about the implementation team?
I use Cisco Duo at a very basic level for the most part and I wear many hats. Cybersecurity is one of them, and I have pretty much rolled out Duo by myself as the only one managing it.
What was our ROI?
I have not seen any ROI with Cisco Duo that is immediately apparent. I assume in the back end, it has saved me from other issues that could have happened. I feel much safer having it in place. It's providing peace of mind.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing, setup costs, and licensing are all good. I haven't had any issues.
I had no issues with pricing, setup costs, and licensing since I went through a VAR, got a quote for 600 licenses, which is what we currently use, and I annually renew it.
What other advice do I have?
I did not purchase the solution on AWS Marketplace.
My advice to other organizations considering Cisco Duo is to implement this solution.
I would rate Cisco Duo overall at probably an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Last updated: Jun 14, 2025
Flag as inappropriateInfrastructure Engineer at a government with 501-1,000 employees
Elevated security and seamless deployment enhance user and device safety
Pros and Cons
- "The UI of Cisco Duo is easy to use, especially the web backend, and it's really intuitive and easy to set up."
- "Cisco Duo has made us more secure. We've managed to stop some threats with it and keep our users and devices safe."
- "Cisco Duo can be improved with better ways to set users up. Currently, we might not be doing it perfectly as we're having them email in phone numbers to get them set up with Duo Mobile. I wish there was more of a self-service option than there is currently, at least to my understanding of Duo."
- "Cisco Duo can be improved with better ways to set users up. Currently, we might not be doing it perfectly as we're having them email in phone numbers to get them set up with Duo Mobile."
What is our primary use case?
We use Cisco Duo for MFA on all of our devices. We're exploring single sign-on right now, but haven't implemented that yet.
How has it helped my organization?
Cisco Duo has made us more secure. We've managed to stop some threats with it and keep our users and devices safe.
The benefits of a passwordless environment are pretty high. The biggest challenge that made us want to implement it was just the number of password resets that we have had to do. We had to send people to third-party vendors, and there were a lot of complaints. Being able to handle one password or one section makes our life a lot easier as IT, and their life a lot easier knowing exactly who to go to.
What is most valuable?
The UI of Cisco Duo is easy to use, especially the web backend, and it's really intuitive and easy to set up. The experience with Duo's strong security authentication system has been easy when logging in.
What needs improvement?
Cisco Duo can be improved with better ways to set users up. Currently, we might not be doing it perfectly as we're having them email in phone numbers to get them set up with Duo Mobile. I wish there was more of a self-service option than there is currently, at least to my understanding of Duo.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Cisco Duo for five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's pretty good. There was one outage, and they emailed us right away, so we were informed.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Cisco Duo scales really well with the growing needs of our organization. Other than the licensing thing I talked about, we're able to add as many as we want, and we're at a little over a thousand with no issues.
We started with just our public safety departments, such as police and fire, but then we moved to the entire city staff. It went very well.
How are customer service and support?
I haven't used them much, but the one time I did, it was pretty seamless. They got back to us quickly, were nice, and gave us what we needed.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Prior to adopting Cisco Duo, I wasn't using another solution.
How was the initial setup?
Deploying Cisco Duo has been easy. The biggest challenge is getting all the end users on board, but in terms of software deployment, it's pretty painless.
What was our ROI?
We've seen ROI with Cisco Duo as it has brought our insurance premium down.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It's a bit confusing because we're on a three-year plan with a certain number of licenses, and we've gone over that number. They told us that when we renew, they will add all these licenses. We've expanded quickly, so everyone's kind of scared because no one knows what the bill is with the long pricing cycle. We know what it's going to be-ish, but until we get the bill, it's kind of rough.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We considered Okta and Entra ID from Microsoft before selecting Cisco Duo. Cisco Duo looks modern, which I know is a weird one, but we have to think about the end user and what they see. There is also the ease of use. It seemed to fit seamlessly and had the most features. We already use other Cisco products. So using another Cisco product seemed like a no-brainer for us.
What other advice do I have?
Single sign-on would make things easier. We have a lot of different departments. They all have different needs. They use a lot of different programs. Single sign-on will be helpful for us.
Cisco Identity Intelligence’s capability to detect and respond to identity-based risks effectively is very good. We're exploring using that a little bit more. It's always great to be able to look through and see if people's devices are out of date and things like that, for addressing security concerns.
My advice to other organizations considering Cisco Duo is to do it. It's easy and was the option that fitted our needs the best. It was also painless. What more can we ask for?
I would rate Cisco Duo a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Last updated: Jun 11, 2025
Flag as inappropriateBuyer's Guide
Cisco Duo
January 2026
Learn what your peers think about Cisco Duo. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
IT Operation Assistant Specialist at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Manages global user access and security group tasks efficiently while supporting smooth authentication workflows
Pros and Cons
- "I can recommend Cisco Duo because it is very easy to accept and understand."
- "An AI support robot or bot that provides direct answers to questions without requiring the search for facts or documents to find solutions would be an improvement."
What is our primary use case?
The main purpose involves addressing questions about SLA tickets. I add persons to security groups and grant access for VPN connections and authentications to add them to the portal, synchronizing them with the Microsoft Azure AD platform and logging cell phone numbers and phone numbers. I also provide access for SSO or mobile tokens, whether hardware or software, and access for Cisco Duo software on cell phones.
I use the web portal for Cisco Duo and the software on my site for self sign-in to the portal. I primarily use the platform for authentications, adding users to groups, and other management tasks. I can block someone or remove them from security groups when an employee leaves the firm or when other security issues occur.
I particularly check where someone is logging in and from which country. I verify if they are under contract to stay in a safe place, such as Germany or Frankfurt. If a person logs in from another country or place, I investigate. From a security perspective, I work with other platforms and coordinate with employees in different departments. I do not focus on security steps themselves. I sometimes examine sign-ins, checking time differences, locations, and IPs in short timeframes. This does relate to security, but I use this method only when questions arise.
What is most valuable?
The general usability and visual interface are valuable to me. It is not significantly different from other tools, but it is usable. It is suitable for a technical person who has an understanding of these tools or software and finds it usable and understandable.
It provides the possibility to get employees directly started with their jobs or schooling for new projects. For this, what is important is the time between registration and account access and whether there is a general problem or minor questions about the main reason. However, there are no strong problems.
What needs improvement?
An AI tool or AI capability would be better. An AI support robot or bot that provides direct answers to questions without requiring the search for facts or documents to find solutions would be an improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for two years full-time, working for a global company across all regions.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Although I have not received direct technical support for Cisco Duo, I would rate it eight or nine. Working with this web portal and technical software capability, I have never experienced significant connection loss or other major issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
My company operates globally with approximately 450,000 employees. Within the projects I manage, there are 10,000 employees, and in another MET region, there are over 15,000. We are a partner with most brands that are usable globally and provide them access to the projects.
How are customer service and support?
Although I have not received direct technical support for Cisco Duo, I would rate it eight or nine. Working with this web portal and technical software capability, I have never experienced significant connection loss or other major issues.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Cisco Duo is my first app or web-based platform. I have never had experience with another brand and cannot compare Cisco Duo to other brands or firms that provide VPN connections or secure connections.
How was the initial setup?
It is easy.
What about the implementation team?
We have access to our portal where I work. They provide access with limited admin rights. We use only the Concentrix portal, which is the company portal.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I have no idea about the pricing. Another department handles this. I am only able to use it for accessing and other functions, but I cannot say this is a different or difficult platform for someone to use because the documents are available. When someone has a problem, they can search the documents and find solutions for simple steps.
What other advice do I have?
I can recommend Cisco Duo because it is very easy to accept and understand. In the two to two and a half years I have used it, I have never experienced a problem. We do not lose connection or encounter other issues, which is the main reason I can offer this recommendation. I would rate this solution nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Last updated: Nov 30, 2025
Flag as inappropriateAchieve seamless global authentication with robust security features
Pros and Cons
- "Cisco Duo is rock solid in terms of stability and reliability."
- "My impression of Cisco's identity intelligence capability to detect and respond to identity-based risks effectively is that it's a great product."
- "I'm unsure how to disable the ping notification sound on my phone when using Cisco Duo."
- "I'm unsure how to disable the ping notification sound on my phone when using Cisco Duo. I don't know how to silence it."
What is our primary use case?
Our main use case of Cisco Duo in my company is for two-factor authentication.
What is most valuable?
What I appreciate most about Cisco Duo is the fact that I can input the code instead of acknowledging it through the app. If I'm overseas, I can simply input the code. This benefits my company by meeting and satisfying the security requirements imposed on the network by the security team.
My impression of Cisco's identity intelligence capability to detect and respond to identity-based risks effectively is that it's a great product.
The phone is the preferred location for Cisco Duo installation, not a separate key fob, as SecureID used to do. That is the preferred method, so I don't see any other options. I have never gone into Cisco Insider.
What needs improvement?
I only use Cisco Duo on my phone, so I am unsure about potential improvements. I don't think it can be installed anywhere else. I'm unsure how to disable the ping notification sound on my phone when using Cisco Duo. I don't know how to silence it. That's the most annoying part when I'm trying to be quiet. The ability to tweak it as an administrator could make it a ten. Note that every product needs some kind of improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Cisco Duo personally for four years. In my company, we have been using Cisco Duo for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Cisco Duo is rock solid in terms of stability and reliability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We are fairly large and there's no issue with how Cisco Duo scales with the growing needs of my company. Plus, we're traveling all over the globe, it works globally.
How are customer service and support?
I have not had any personal experience with Cisco Duo's customer service and technical support. We've had very few complaints.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have only experienced SecureID when considering other solutions before choosing Cisco Duo. It was kind of clunky when I used it. Cisco Duo is not more clunky than SecureID.
How was the initial setup?
My experience with the deployment of Cisco Duo is that it's pretty easy compared to SecureID, and that's the only thing I can compare with, though that was a long time ago.
What was our ROI?
For us, the biggest return on investment when using Cisco Duo is the ease of deployment and its rock-solid performance. If it's rock solid, we can't complain.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I have nothing to compare against the pricing, the setup cost, and the licensing of Cisco Duo, but it satisfied the management. For Cisco shops, that's sufficient.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
The only other solution I can compare to is SecureID, which is cumbersome.
What other advice do I have?
There are not any new features or functionalities in Cisco Duo that my company has started using recently; it's just straightforward two-factor authentication.
I have not used Cisco Duo's conversational AI interface.
Regarding the feature called Advanced Identity Threat Detection and Response in Cisco Duo, I've heard of the term, and I've seen the feature mentioned. I'm not quite sure what it is. I've noticed recently that it's asking me to input a PIN.
I do not yet have a complete passwordless environment in my company as we still have two-factor, with the first level of authentication being Active Directory authentication, which involves a password. This solution adds to that.
From one to ten, I would rate Cisco Duo overall a nine.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Last updated: Jun 14, 2025
Flag as inappropriateNetwork Engineer at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
Push notifications improve security and convenience for faculty and staff
Pros and Cons
- "The feature of Cisco Duo that I appreciate most is the push notifications. They are great."
- "The feature of Cisco Duo that I appreciate most is the push notifications."
- "Cisco Duo could be improved if there were a way to make two-factor authentication quicker."
- "Regarding the stability and reliability of the Cisco Duo solution, we have experienced some outages over the last few years that are significant because people can't log in."
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for Cisco Duo is that we use it for two-factor authentication for all of our faculty and staff. We don't use it for our students, however, we implement it for faculty and staff.
How has it helped my organization?
The features of Cisco Duo improve our company by increasing security since they're relatively simple to use.
What is most valuable?
The feature of Cisco Duo that I appreciate most is the push notifications. They are great. I'm glad that they can be accessed from my watch personally. Many of our staff use the phone calls so they can just answer and press one without needing to pull out their mobile phone and get the code.
From a management perspective, I appreciate that we can enroll or control devices on the back end for people who get a new phone and forget to handle Cisco Duo properly and need to add a new device.
It makes logging in easier than alternatives.
What needs improvement?
Cisco Duo could be improved if there were a way to make two-factor authentication quicker. Sometimes it takes a few seconds to jump from page to page during its login flow.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Cisco Duo since probably 2020. It's hard to determine the exact timing with COVID. That's when everything started.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Regarding the stability and reliability of the Cisco Duo solution, we have experienced some outages over the last few years that are significant because people can't log in.
While we wouldn't want those outages, they haven't been catastrophic or terrible enough to make us consider looking elsewhere.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Cisco Duo scales with the growing needs of my company. While we don't grow significantly as a university compared to some other companies, it scales appropriately for our size.
How are customer service and support?
I haven't had to interact much with customer service and technical support of the solution, so I don't have substantial feedback to provide.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We use two solutions on campus: Cisco Duo for faculty and staff, and Microsoft Authenticator for students. The main difference between the two is that Cisco Duo appears more reliable. Microsoft Authenticator seems to have more friction and breaks down more frequently, meaning users might complete the authentication flow but still not authenticate properly.
Our students use Microsoft Authenticator, and we get more negative feedback from that than we do from Cisco Duo. Cisco Duo works better than Microsoft Authenticator. Not everybody prefers two-factor authentication, however, Cisco Duo has the least friction of the two solutions we use.
How was the initial setup?
The deployment experience of Cisco Duo was relatively easy compared to other similar projects we've rolled out. This implementation seemed straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
We had good support and guidance with the implementation, and we relied heavily on skilled people at Cisco to help us implement it properly.
What was our ROI?
Regarding the return on investment when using Cisco Duo, separate from the financial aspect, I cannot answer that thoroughly.
It seems valuable and performs better than our other solution for faculty and staff, so I would hope it provides a better return on investment. I'm not familiar with the financial details.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We have not considered other solutions while using Cisco Duo in the last five years.
What other advice do I have?
In evaluating the benefit of having a complete passwordless environment in my company, we're not entirely passwordless since we use Cisco Duo for two-factor authentication. We still authenticate with a password before being moved to a Cisco Duo page. If there's a passwordless feature, we're not utilizing it.
Regarding challenges when using Cisco Duo, issues are usually client-side related, such as someone's phone not working correctly.
Regarding Advanced Identity Threat Detection and Response in Cisco Duo, I don't believe we utilize it. I have received inquiries when I've authenticated from new locations, however, I'm not certain if that's part of this feature.
My impression of Cisco Identity Intelligence's capability to detect and respond to identity-based risks is satisfactory.
I have not used Cisco Duo's conversational AI interface for admin tasks.
I would rate Cisco Duo overall as probably an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Last updated: Jun 14, 2025
Flag as inappropriateSenior Engineer at a legal firm with 1-10 employees
Secure access has protected remote portals and stopped spoofed logins with granular MFA controls
Pros and Cons
- "Clients I implemented Cisco Duo at immediately feel more confident in their security environment, and we can see a lot of illegal attempts to get in, giving me faith in the product."
- "One downside of Cisco Duo is the expense, as there are clients that can afford only the basic package, which does not include Geo-fencing, leaving them unable to pay for the more expensive level, which I do not feel justifies the double price of that upper tier version."
What is our primary use case?
My current use cases for Cisco Duo involve a pool of clients where most of our clients use Cisco Duo for MFA to access their online environments, whether it be a VPN connection back to their office or to Azure, where they usually have Cisco Duo protection on it. In our own environment, we also use Cisco Duo to access our company resources through a portal that is protected by Cisco Duo.
I am using the MFA component of Cisco Duo, which I think is the main component, along with all the granular functionalities such as bypass codes. We sync to Active Directory, and we utilize geofencing when our clients are traveling, allowing us to lift the geofencing off a certain account to grant them access. We do not really use the reporting features very much, only when we are troubleshooting to see why someone is unable to access their resources.
What is most valuable?
What I appreciate the most about Cisco Duo is the advanced license, which incorporates regional security such as geofencing, and I think that is quite valuable to have included. The bypass codes are also very useful from an administration point of view.
I think the integration of identity security into Cisco Duo's IAM solution is highly beneficial against modern threats, as it is integrated with many technologies and service providers to cover MFA, and it is quick and easy to set up.
I saw the benefits of Cisco Duo immediately after deployment; we started seeing spoofing attempts where the MFA request was not approved because the user was unaware of someone logging in. Clients I implemented Cisco Duo at immediately feel more confident in their security environment, and we can see a lot of illegal attempts to get in, giving me faith in the product.
What needs improvement?
One downside of Cisco Duo is the expense, as there are clients that can afford only the basic package, which does not include Geo-fencing, leaving them unable to pay for the more expensive level, which I do not feel justifies the double price of that upper tier version. That is about the only thing I would change, otherwise, it is a wonderful product, and I have interacted with their support quite often with no issues.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Cisco Duo in my career overall for about three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have never seen any lagging, crashing, or downtime with Cisco Duo; I can definitely say we have not had any Cisco Duo outages across all the companies I have worked for that utilize Cisco Duo.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Cisco Duo is very scalable; with just a few clicks in the admin portal, I can add new portals and systems to cover with authentication, and it is almost too easy.
How are customer service and support?
I have contacted Cisco technical support a few times regarding technical matters, including transferring a client from their portal to our company portal, which was resolved almost instantly. I also got assistance for a trial license request from a client considering the more expensive license.
I would give Cisco Duo's support a nine out of ten, as there was one instance where I had to wait a bit to receive assistance, but that was just that one time.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used WatchGuard AuthPoint, the WatchGuard variation of an MFA product that is similar to Cisco Duo.
I definitely prefer Cisco Duo for the ease of configuration and how simple it is to use, while the WatchGuard counterpart is extremely difficult and technical to configure and set up.
How was the initial setup?
The initial deployment of Cisco Duo was difficult because I had never used it before, and I had to set up a Cisco Duo AuthProxy server in a complicated environment. However, I reached out to Cisco Duo support, and their online documentation was of great help, so I managed to get it up and running, but it was not easy.
The first full setup of Cisco Duo took me about an entire afternoon, mainly due to configuring the AuthProxy component, and that was only after joining a company for about two weeks, which contributed to the learning curve. Cisco Duo, including the AuthProxy and the online portal portion, probably took two hours.
What about the implementation team?
Cisco Duo does not require maintenance on my end if set up correctly; linking it to Active Directory or something similar means no regular maintenance is needed. We only need to generate bypass codes when users struggle or when we adjust profiles for clients traveling.
What other advice do I have?
I have not utilized the end-to-end phishing resistance feature of Cisco Duo to its full extent.
I have noticed an increase in attempts to access resources illegitimately in my organization; we have two MFA products, Cisco Duo and WatchGuard, and in the logs, we see a lot of attempts. I do not know if that is an uptick in attempts, but there are definitely a lot of attempts going about.
I give this review a rating of ten out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Last updated: Dec 26, 2025
Flag as inappropriateDirector, Customer Success at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
The integration of quick notifications and seamless user experience boosts security measures
Pros and Cons
- "Compared to Cisco, the general support I experience is fantastic; I have no complaints about it."
- "Cisco Duo scales with the growing needs of our organization by making it easy to acquire more licensing, especially with an enterprise agreement, which allows built-in growth and minimizes worries about licensing as we expand."
- "To improve Cisco Duo, the biggest consideration is the licensing standpoint; the most common issue I've found is customers not setting up the Active Directory sync properly, leading to inflated licensing usage when they try to delete inactive users that are still being charged."
- "To improve Cisco Duo, the biggest consideration is the licensing standpoint; the most common issue I've found is customers not setting up the Active Directory sync properly, leading to inflated licensing usage when they try to delete inactive users that are still being charged."
What is our primary use case?
Our main use case for Cisco Duo is multi-factor authentication, specifically setting up Zero Trust for different users within our organization.
How has it helped my organization?
Duo features have specifically benefited our organization by allowing us to add security measures. Whenever you add something security-wise, it can add either more complexity or slow down access. Anything that we could quickly use simply and not have any interruption while trying to access a website has been beneficial.
What is most valuable?
The features of Cisco Duo that I prefer the most include the one-time passcodes and the push notifications, which are much quicker with Duo for some reason, making it my favorite aspect from a user experience standpoint.
What needs improvement?
To improve Cisco Duo, the biggest consideration is the licensing standpoint; the most common issue I've found is customers not setting up the Active Directory sync properly, leading to inflated licensing usage when they try to delete inactive users that are still being charged. An additional feature that should be included in the next release of Cisco Duo is a password manager.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used hte solution for five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
There has been no downtime, crashes, or performance issues with Cisco Duo.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Cisco Duo scales with the growing needs of our organization by making it easy to acquire more licensing, especially with an enterprise agreement, which allows built-in growth and minimizes worries about licensing as we expand.
We have expanded usage of Cisco Duo; it has been smooth, and I have no complaints there, but to be fair, we are very familiar with Cisco ordering processes.
How are customer service and support?
Compared to Cisco, the general support I experience is fantastic; I have no complaints about it.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Prior to adopting Cisco Duo, I was using Okta to address similar needs.
What stood out to me in the evaluation process when comparing solutions was Cisco Duo's simple integration with the Cisco ecosystem and the helpful documentation and learning resources available for our managed service team, especially a dropdown menu in the Duo dashboard that provides useful learning material.
How was the initial setup?
The Active Directly sync is a bit difficult during implementation. Other than that, the deployment is smooth.
What was our ROI?
I can say that I have seen negative ROI with Cisco Duo since it adds an additional cost for customers who may find alternatives through Microsoft Defender; however, existing users of Duo remain happy with it and the integration with the rest of Cisco.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing has been complaint-free, although the biggest threat to Duo is Microsoft's EA, where their version of Duo is integrated, causing many friends to feel forced to stay within that ecosystem due to the reliance on calling, email, and Office.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before selecting Cisco Duo, I considered Okta, which I found to be more expensive; they do have great features regarding identity and the app dashboard. However, in the end, mostly we have feature parity.
Also, the way Microsoft integrates their enterprise agreement obligates users to stay with it rather than paying for additional products.
What other advice do I have?
I did not purchase the product on AWS Marketplace.
Regarding new features or functionalities in Cisco Duo, we have not adopted anything recently from the end customer standpoint; we've had that setup from day one.
I evaluate the benefit of having a complete passwordless environment in our organization by acknowledging that we have not gone passwordless yet.That will be a next step, although we want to learn more about it before implementation. My hesitation to going passwordless is due to a lack of knowledge and time to learn about it and implement a process to convert everybody over. Many of our internal employees aren't even using password managers, which is concerning, so transitioning them straight to passwordless is a challenge.
We do not utilize the Advanced Identity Threat Detection and Response in Cisco Duo. We're primarily using Cisco Duo for multi-factor authentication, setting up different security levels for our IT team and different groups for access to various internal resources, however, we haven't implemented anything advanced with detection or response.
I have not used Duo's conversational AI interface for admin tasks.
My advice to other organizations considering Cisco Duo is to get the provisioning dialed in before deployment to avoid being hit with overages, as this has been the main struggle we've encountered, which I've seen in other organizations as well.
On a scale of one to ten, I rate Cisco Duo a nine.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Last updated: Jun 14, 2025
Flag as inappropriateSystems Engineer at a mining and metals company with 1,001-5,000 employees
User-friendly multi-factor authentication streamlines access and minimizes risk
Pros and Cons
- "I appreciate the simple login feature of Cisco Duo; being able to log into your actual page and then having all your apps there is convenient."
- "Cisco Duo helps minimize the risk of attack vectors and prevents unauthorized access to our data since it's tied with multi-factor authentication, which helps block threats."
- "General announcements when new features come out with Cisco Duo should be broadcasted to customers who are using it, which might bring more accessibility to their documents so users can be more in tune with updates."
- "General announcements when new features come out with Cisco Duo should be broadcasted to customers who are using it, which might bring more accessibility to their documents so users can be more in tune with updates."
What is our primary use case?
We use Cisco Duo for our single sign-on. We have it tied to our Okta, so users must first log in to Duo before accessing Okta.
How has it helped my organization?
Cisco Duo helps minimize the risk of attack vectors and prevents unauthorized access to our data since it's tied with multi-factor authentication, which helps block threats.
What is most valuable?
I appreciate the simple login feature of Cisco Duo; being able to log into your actual page and then having all your apps there is convenient.
My experience with Cisco Duo's strong security authentication system has been easier.
It's easier to log in. Cisco Duo is user-friendly; users simply put in their email address and are redirected to their Okta page, making it straightforward to use. It's hard to screw up.
Cisco Duo's Identity Intelligence capability to detect and respond to identity-based risks is good. While I don't necessarily use it directly, I'm sure we implement it, though it might not be noticeable unless specifically pointed out.
What needs improvement?
I'm not aware of any new features or functionalities of Cisco Duo that we have started using recently. I don't know if we utilize the Advanced Identity Threat Detection and Response feature. I have not used Cisco Duo's conversational AI interface for admin tasks.
I'd be interested in exploring the AI portion of Cisco Duo as that would make it more interesting, though it's already straightforward and user-friendly. General announcements when new features come out with Cisco Duo should be broadcasted to customers who are using it, which might bring more accessibility to their documents so users can be more in tune with updates.
For how long have I used the solution?
We implemented Cisco Duo just over four years ago.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Cisco Duo is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Cisco Duo is easily scalable; you can adjust the size quickly and easily. From a licensing standpoint, we have the true-up which makes it easier to increase licenses when needed.
How are customer service and support?
I've never had to reach out to customer service and technical support, so I cannot speak to that aspect. The fact that I've never had to contact support since Cisco Duo has been in place indicates it's a stable, robust product.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were put in a position where we needed Cisco Duo, so we adopted it.
How was the initial setup?
I wasn't part of the deployment team. That said, from what I've heard, it wasn't that complicated.
What was our ROI?
The biggest return on investment when using Cisco Duo is what it protects you from overall. It keeps you safe, and that protection demonstrates its worth.
What other advice do I have?
We don't have a complete passwordless environment in our company yet; we've implemented long passwords, however, we haven't eliminated passwords entirely.
I would rate Cisco Duo a ten out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Last updated: Jun 14, 2025
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